


White

by Cat_o_pawtra



Category: Fairy Tail, Stingue - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, This was for stingue week last year, um maybe some angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 08:25:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7632469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_o_pawtra/pseuds/Cat_o_pawtra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sting hasn't been himself lately, often sneaking out of their shared home, leaving Rogue to wonder where he went. Is there more to Sting's disappearances than what meets the eye?</p>
            </blockquote>





	White

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone~  
> This was a little fic for Stingue Week 2015 and I decided to upload it here for everyone to enjoy~

  


Rogue can’t remember a day where Sting would stay in bed with him just a little longer. Every day he trained like crazy, insisting that he needed to become stronger in order to meet the demands of being a guild master. Ever since the Grand Magic Games, Sting rose at 6am each morning and only returned at 10 for breakfast. Rogue had attempted to follow him, but the White Dragon had always caught wind of his scent and sent him home, saying that he didn’t need any distractions. He usually turned with a wink and waved as he walked away, leaving Rogue behind.  
  
Today was no different. The Shadow Dragon Slayer lay half awake in their queen size bed and watched Sting shuffle around in the dark. The alarm clock beside the bed showed just past 6 and it was still dark out. Rogue sat up, leaning on his elbows, his eyes staring into the dark. He wondered if maybe today, he could sneak after Sting to see what he was up to every morning. At first, Rogue had been worried that Sting had some other girl he was seeing, but he never smelled anything but Sting’s scent.  
  
“I know what you are thinking. I don’t need any distractions or eye candy when I train.” Sting’s voice cut through the dark and Rogue shrank into himself. The White Dragon Slayer turned around and walked back over to the bed. The mattress creaked a little as he sat down and reached across to caress his lover’s face. Rogue leaned into the gentle touch a little before Sting pulled his hand away again and shifted his weight so he was lying on his stomach, his nose just centimetres away from Rogue’s.  
  
“I’ll be back before you know it.” Sting told him and kissed the tip of Rogue’s nose. The blonde pushed himself away from the mattress and walked to the bedroom door.  
  
“I love you.” he whispered and then the door closed again like it did every morning. Rogue was left alone in the dark. The Shadow Dragon leaned forward, running his hand through his black hair. It was October now and the nights were longer again. Maybe, just maybe today was his chance and the night would hide him a little longer. Either way, he could never sleep in a cold bed after Sting left.  
  
Usually he would just go to the guild until 10 or stay at home with Lector and Frosch, but lately he hasn’t been able to shake this feeling that Sting wasn’t telling him something. He sighed and rose dragging his feet to the light switch and gazing back over the messy room. Sting’s clothes were everywhere. The White Shadow Dragon Slayer never did know how to clean up after himself. Usually Rogue would have been frustrated with Sting’s lack of organisation, but he had been the one who wanted Sting out of his clothes as quickly as possible last night, so of course they would be scattered across the room. Rogue spied his own garments in different corners of the room and retrieved them sleepily.  
  
A short while later he emerged from the bedroom fully dressed in casual clothes and his black hair tied up in a neat pony tail. Quietly, he walked past the living area where Lector and Frosch slept soundly under a large woolly blanket. For a moment Rogue felt guilty for confiding the two of them to the couch for the night but he and Sting had not had a night to themselves in a while and both of them needed some stress relief. So Rogue dismissed the feeling and tucked the Exceeds in before heading for the door of their small home.  
  
Sting’s scent still lingered in the air. It hadn’t been more than 10 minutes since the blonde had left the house and so Rogue could still track him down, but stay far enough away so that the White Dragon Slayer could not smell him. He ran his hand along the bricks of their house and vanished into a shadow, chasing after Sting.

  


\-------------------------------------------

  


The scenery changed from the mountainous landscape, that their guild and home was built upon, to a forest. Rogue was still a good 10 minutes behind Sting and he intended on keeping it this way. He couldn’t afford to let himself be seen again. What bothered him more, was that as he moved through this forest, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. It was a strange place for Sting to be training. The White Dragon Slayer was all about huge explosions and show of strength instead of small target practice. So why on earth had Sting come here of all places?  
  
Ahead, the trees parted into a nice clearing, and there in its centre stood the blonde male Rogue had been chasing after. Rogue slowed to a halt and hid behind a tree, watching Sting from a distance. The White Dragon Slayer had his back turned towards Rogue and he seemed to be panting as if he was out of breath. had he really been training afterall? Rogue couldn’t tell. He squinted his eyes to get a better view when he saw something black flying out of the shadows towards Sting. The blonde fought back with one of his own attacks and the object disintegrated in the white light.  
  
Again and again, the strange object attacked Sting with no sign of stopping and the blonde was beginning to wear out, Rogue could tell. But Sting didn’t stop. Stubbornly he continued to take the assault head on, one White Dragon’s Iron Fist after the other.  
  
Suddenly something in the shadows moved and a black streak raced towards Sting, promptly knocking him off his feet with a right hook. The blonde tumbled to the ground but immediately reached out for the black streak and attempted to pin it down with a White Dragon’s Claw but the black streaked seemed unaffected. At least that’s what it seemed like at first.  
  
Rogue couldn’t believe his eyes. It was much weaker than his magic, that was clear to him, but it was a shadow non the less. Whoever Sting was fighting used Shadow Magic, or at least some kind of form of Shadow Magic. But why was he fighting a shadow? Rogue would wait for the answer even if he had to spend the next few hours hidden behind a tree. He would have his answer.  
  
Sting’s White Dragon’s Claw had managed to halt the shadow long enough for Sting to land another attack on it. What Rogue couldn’t see was the smile on the blonde’s face as the shadow recoiled. What Rogue also didn’t know was that Sting was holding back. It was hard, but he had to in order to keep his opponent from harm. After all, it was the least he could do for calling him out here every morning for 4 hours.  
  
It was in that split second that Sting’s mind wandered, that the shadow saw his chance and attacked again, knocking Sting to the ground with one decisive blow. His head hit the ground and his eyes stared upwards at the sky before he arched his head backwards slightly and searched for something between the trees. Rogue shrank into himself and his eyes locked onto those of ocean blue staring back at him.  
  
“Rogue, I can smell you.” Sting growled playfully and rolled onto his stomach, still staring at the trees. Busted. Rogue couldn’t hide any longer and so, slightly embarrassed for stalking Sting, the Shadow Dragon Slayer walked out from his hiding spot and into the clearing. Sting crawled to his feet to greet his boyfriend but didn’t let the opportunity to call him a creepy stalker slip away. Behind him stood a man with black hair tied up in a pony tail above his head and a confused look upon his features.  
  
“Rogue, this is Kageyama, he’s been helping me out with training for the past few months.” Sting explained and Kageyama held out his hand to greet Rogue. The Shadow Dragon Slayer took it rather reluctantly, too many unanswered questions still nagging at the back of his mind. Sting turned to Kageyama with his signature grin and patted the other man’s back in a friendly manner,  
  
“Let’s call it a day, whaddaya say?” Sting suggested and Kageyama agreed awkwardly before taking his leave. When he was out of hearing range, Sting turned to Rogue with a small frown on his face.  
  
“Rogue, why did you follow me?” he asked hurt. Rogue didn’t know how to respond to this. It had never once dawned upon him that following Sting would hurt his feelings.  
  
“I-I...” he began but Sting held up his hand and replied,  
  
“Not here. I know a peacefuller place where we can talk.” and with that he walked off, leaving Rogue to chase after him.

  


\----------------------------------------------------------

  


The two of them sat silently by a waterfall. Neither had spoken since they had arrived here and it was dreadful. You’d think the quietness and serenity of the waterfall would have eased away the tension but somehow it had only made it worse and Rogue didn’t dare to say anything now. Finally, with a heavy sigh, Sting leaned back on his hands and turned to look at Rogue.  
  
“Did you not trust me?” he asked and the question pierced Rogue through the heart. Sting was right though. There had been times where Rogue had not trusted Sting and he hated himself for it.  
  
“Of course I trust you...but you leave without saying where you are going every morning and we worry for you. We all worry for you. Not just Lector, Frosch and I. The entire guild worries for you.” Rogue replied after searching for the right words. Sting remained silent and Rogue knew the only way he could make up for this was if he told Sting the whole truth, even if it was hard.  
  
“I admit that at the beginning I thought you were seeing someone else and it broke my heart, but I should have known better. Then lately you have been coming home with injuries that you try to hide from me, but I know you far too well. I wish you’d speak to me more openly. We’ve been dating for almost a year now and you could owe me at least that much.” The Shadow Dragon Slayer told his partner quietly and his eyes softened at Sting apologetically,  
  
“I never meant to make you feel like I didn’t trust you. I was just very worried for you.”  
  
Sting’s eyes softened too and he smiled at Rogue warmly. Maybe Rogue was right, maybe Sting really did owe him an explanation for his daily disappearances. How he was supposed to tell him was a completely different story. Sting didn’t find it easy to express his feelings through words and he wasn’t exactly very charismatic in that sense either.  
  
“Why have you been training then?” Rogue asked as he spied Sting struggling with what to say next.  
  
“Remember the final battle of the Grand Magic Games?” Sting asked quietly and Rogue suddenly knew where he was going with this.  
  
“You mean the one you humbly surrendered to?” Rogue replied, but Sting shook his head.  
  
“No I mean the whole event. The finale, if you will. From where I was hiding, I could hear the commentator from a nearby lacrima screen and...” he broke off and gave Rogue the most pained expression he had ever seen him make. A cold shiver ran down Rogue’s back. Sting couldn’t have possibly seen that.  
  
“I know what you are thinking. I did see. I saw the whole fight. At first I didn’t pay any attention to it since I knew you had it in the bag. God I was wrong. I was so angry when you just surrendered like that. I didn’t understand how you could just bow down to your childhood idol like that. But then your screams. It still gives me nightmares.” Sting continued and the colour drained form Rogues cheeks. He had seen it afterall. Sting looked up for a moment before he averted his gaze again as he muttered,  
  
“I knew it wasn’t you and I wanted to help. I had to help. But what good am I against something I can’t even see? Even hear? All throughout your battle I watched as Gajeel hurt you when you weren’t even in control. It made me so sick I thought that for a moment I was going to pass out. But then I saw a shadow leave your body and the anger and frustration turned into terror and fear. And there you were, sprawled out on the cold hard floor unconscious and wounded. I didn’t give a crap about the points anymore all I needed to know was that you were alright.” his voice began to crack and he took a shuddered breath before he continued,  
  
“Right then and there I made myself a promise that I would protect you no matter what, but realised that my magic back then was no match for a shadow hiding in plain sight. It killed me day after day to know that if you would ever be possessed again I would be powerless and you would get hurt again. Then a couple of months ago, I ran into Kageyama by chance and we decided that we could train together to enhance both our powers. I merely passed it off as a guild master thing to everyone, including you. All I wanted was to be able to defeat a shadow so that if the time came, I could protect you.”  
  
Rogue didn’t know how to respond. From all the conclusions he had come up with over the past few months to explain Sting’s absence, this had not been one of them. But it was the one that made the most sense to him now.  
  
“Why are you crying?” Sting exclaimed suddenly and hastily crawled to his feet, cupping Rogue’s face in his hands and staring at him worriedly. Rogue blinked confused and replied,  
  
“Am I?”  
  
“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?” Sting sputtered, Rogue’s faint words failing to reach the blonde’s ears completely. Rogue let out a soft laugh and shook his head before pulling Sting into a crushing hug.  
  
“No, quite the opposite. It made me very happy.” he whispered into Sting’s golden hair. The White Dragon Slayer felt a huge weight lift off his chest and he relaxed into Rogue’s embrace, thankful for the peacefulness that had finally descended upon them.  
  
“I’m sorry I always left without telling you where I was going. I just...thought it was a touchy subject...” Sting muttered into Rogue’s shirt and the Shadow Dragon Slayer laughed softly,  
  
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.”  
  
Sting rolled over so that his head was now resting against the nook of Rogue’s neck and he sat on the Shadow Dragon’s lap. He looked up at his boyfriend and replied teasingly,  
  
“No, not by Kageyama. But you sir, you were far too rough last night.”  
  
Rogue blushed furiously and snapped,  
  
“You asked me to!”  
  
“I know. Calm down.” Sting laughed and sat up turning his head towards Rogue so he could see him from the corner of his eye. With a low and husky voice he hissed,  
  
“And tonight my dear, it’s your turn.”  
  
Rogue shuddered and Sting laughed loudly, letting himself fall back into his boyfriend’s lap. They sat like that for a while longer until both agreed that it was time for breakfast and headed back to the guild, holding hands like the dork boyfriends that they are.

  


\---------------------------------------------------------

Rogue couldn’t remember a day where his hips ached this much. The room was dark and without having to look at the alarm clock on his bedside table, he knew it was 6am. Today, something was different. Today it was silent. Well, except for the loud snores coming from right beside him. On any other day, he would have found it hellishly annoying, especially at this hour in the morning, but not now. From today on, Sting would stay by his side until paperwork pulled him to the guild hall.  
  
Black and white can not exist without each other, nor can light and dark. If Rogue ever did crumble to his shadow again, he knew that the light would take him down. Sting was his best friend and his soul mate. No matter what happened, Rogue would always protect him too. And so, with Sting’s warmth beside him, he was coaxed back to sleep, despite the loud snores. And despite his stinging butt.

  



End file.
